Celebrating the life of Sonny Eliot

DETROIT — A celebration of the life of longtime Detroit broadcaster Sonny Eliot — “Always Sonny!” — will be held from 5-7 p.m. Thursday in the Wayne State University Community Arts Auditorium, 450 Reuther Mall.

Eliot, who brought his unique brand of entertainment and information into living rooms for more than 60 years, died Nov. 16 at age 91.

Eliot, born Marvin Schlossberg on Dec. 5, 1920, in Detroit, remembered the tough times of living through the Great Depression, then entering the military during World War II.

Advertisement

While serving as a B-24 pilot, a plane he was flying was shot down during a bombing mission over Germany. He was captured and endured 15 months in the Stalag Luft I prison camp before being freed by the Russians when the war ended.

Returning home after the war, Eliot pursued both his broadcasting career in radio and television and his studies at Wayne State. He appeared on “The Lone Ranger” and “The Green Hornet” radio programs, children’s programs, quiz shows and commercials.

In 1959, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Wayne State with a major in speech communication.

“Sonny Eliot was an example of the quintessential Wayne State University student of the 1950s,” said Matthew Seeger, professor and dean, College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts. “He was one of the thousands of veterans who returned from service in World War II and found that Wayne State was there to help them build their careers. Sonny was a member of the Greatest Generation, and he and other returning veterans helped to make Wayne State University great.”

Jack Lessenberry, veteran journalist and Wayne State University interim director of journalism, described his close friend. “Sonny Eliot wasn’t only Detroit’s best-known broadcast weatherman. He invented the idea of weather forecasting as entertainment, lasted longer and dominated this major market as no one has, before or since. Yet he never forgot for a moment that he was a native Detroiter — or an alum of Wayne State University.”

Sonny, and his wife Annette, a retired public school teacher, were married 50 years.